Legs and Borders

One week on the trail! Day was sunny and hot. It took me four hours to get to Kerikeri, path was going mainly through farmlands with lots of annoying fences, it felt like walking through an outdoor museum sometimes. I took a detour in Kerikeri to resupply and get something to eat, I went shopping to New World the last of 'big three' supermarkets in New Zealand, this one being the most expensive. Then I got the tiniest pizza in Pizza Hut, which they advertised as 'regular size', except there wasn't small size at all. As I was walking back to the trail, old lady pruning her garden stopped me and asked why there are so many backpackers walking down her road, I said that it's because it is a good way to reconnect back to the trail. Then she asked where I'm from, I said that I'm from Poland. "Dzień dobry" she answered and smiled. I've carried on walking to Paihaia, I've met four oth...

This day didn't work out the way it should have, but that's the joys of hiking! I woke up just before 6am with cows still crying in pain in the field across the campsite. When I was walking next to it, it became obvious that all of them decided to give birth that night and they were still carrying on (it was a large herd). It was cute to see all those newborn calves barely standing on their feet so I had to forgive their mother's my sleepless night. I didn't check the GPS for half an hour and that was my first crucial mistake, instead of turning I went straight ahead (TA is not great with markers sometimes) I looked at the map and noticed that the road I was walking on rejoins the alternative trail in few kilometers so I made a decision to push on even though I will miss one of the "highlights of the entire trail" as someone called walking along the Waipaia river. Hiking can be like this sometimes, you make one wrong decision and it cha...